India misses Daddy

Heikki is away once again. This time he's in Italy. He will travel away from Africa three more times within the coming month.

India misses him a lot. She hates mornings when he has left for the office, not having woken her up. When he goes away for a longer time she counts the nights until his return. Heikki had to postpone coming home by a day. Matias and I have managed to distract India's time keeping, so she hasn't noticed the extra day.

For the first time, India now compares me negatively to Heikki. She thinks her life would be better if Daddy was here with her. Heikki lifts her up from the bed in the morning, together with her duvet, and carries her in front of the TV, where the kids watch cartoons (or the news) with him. I don't carry her half as good as Daddy. I also don't put the food on the plate as well as him.

We went to celebrate the Finnish independence day at the consulate on Saturday. I played the Daddy-card well. I got India to eat Finnish rye bread after telling her that Daddy would certainly have given her some of that lovely bread had he been there.

The sauna was hot. India joined the other kids for a sauna and a swim. I had packed the correct towel for her, and the correct swimming suit, thus gathering some Daddy-points. She looked in the bag, and then gave me a long, silent glance. She looked into my eyes, shifted her head to the side and said in a deep, disappointed voice: "Daddy would not have forgotten my goggles." Sigh.